Theravada Buddhist Monastic Activity at Angkor: A Discussion of What, Where, and When

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Current State of Archaeological Research across Southeast Asia" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The religious transition of the Khmer Empire (ca. 802–1431 CE) from Saivaite and/or Mahayana Buddhism to the religion known today as “Theravada Buddhism” is thought today to be one of the defining social phenomena of the late Angkorian period (ca. fourteenth to fifteenth centuries) in medieval Cambodia. However, despite the archaeological evidence of over 70 monastic substructures within the terminal Khmer capital of Angkor Thom, the absence of new temples and inscriptions have thrown any exploration of urban activity directly associated with “Theravada Buddhism” by the wayside. Called “Buddhist Terraces” in traditional scholarship and *prah vihar by Cambodian archaeologists, investigations of these substructures across three field seasons at Angkor Thom from 2017 to 2019 have yielded incredibly valuable information concerning both specific ritual activities and their chronology at several sites, as well as structural augmentations over time. Furthermore, spatial data alongside diachronic analysis has revealed plenty concerning the importance of “place” in the construction of these monastic buildings, which provides clarity as to how localized religion both supplanted and incorporated previous traditions of temple-building from earlier religious eras at Angkor.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• The Current State of Archaeological Research across Southeast Asia

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32884